A longtime presence on the New Age drumming scene, percussionist Steve Gordon is a master at using the beat of the drum to entrain and synchronize human response to deeper levels of the divine and the mystic. Drum Prayer is one of his most effective works in this regard, a joyous, life-affirming trip through the beat-by-beat landscapes of the body soul and spirit. There's no filler on Drum Prayer, no waiting for the good stuff; it's all now. Eagle-eared and open-hearted, Gordon is keyed into each beat as if it was the first, last, and only. Aided by a pack of like-minded friends on didgeridoo, oud, flute, piano, as well as other instruments, Gordon lays out a breadcrumb trail of rhythm through the wilderness of the divine spirit, the canyons of the heart, and the deep-sea soul.

Opening with the arrival of the pink dawn on the desert horizon, with rattlesnake percussion, low and rumbling didgeridoo, and crying-hawk flute, "Where the Earth Meets the Sky" quickly establishes the album's free-ranging, animalistic tone. Thudding ceremonial drums and jazzy classical guitar are followed with Native American Lakota chant sung in a light, almost pop-opera, style. "Spirit Runner" features passionate flamenco-style guitar that is offset by a scintillating frame-drum rhythm and more chanting. Tracks stretch long enough to serve as good start-and-stop points for meditation or astral or shamanistic journeying, with each track granted a ceremonial welcome to the field via rattles and ambience before the flutes, guitars, and drums start in earnest.

At their pinnacle, the pieces extend outward in an array of well-produced expansive beauty, like blossoming flowers of tribal love and union. The idea of coupling ancient language chants to dreamy, high-registered jazz-style singing is inspired, lending the album a vague sense of 1960s-style tropicalia jazz groups, as on the heavenly "Season of Renewal." Steve Gordon has been forging the signature sound of what is known as New Age music almost since its inception, and on Drum Prayer his effortless mastery of the form is indisputable, his touch light enough to be carried aloft on the next canyon wind or through a hotel cocktail bar. The musician friends he's gathered around him for the journey (which include his pianist brother David Gordon, Jaya Lakshmi, Laurie Lovecraft, and Kim Atkinson) are clearly inspired by his magic, and you will be too.